For nearly half a century India’s relationship with China had a highly uneven trajectory, punctured by intense mutual suspicion, occasional fraternal bonhomie, a border war, bitter exchanges and near conflict scenarios. It took almost three decades after the 1962 conflict for this relationship to start acquiring a more comprehensive and multidimensional character. Since the last decade of the twentieth century, through a politics of incremental engagement, India has continually broadened and deepened its bilateral relations with China, and steadily expanded its regional and global engagement. The rise of China and the slower emergence of India as major powers has resulted in an increasing significance of their relationship for each other (and of this relationship for global politics). The dynamics of this phase are being shaped by their respective domestic imperatives of development and modernization, a rapidly transforming regional strategic environment, the forces of economic globalization, and the newer security challenges.